Yes - ESXi on Apple Hardware

Question

Yes - ESXi on Apple Hardware

Yes, in no uncertain terms, VMWare ESXi Hypervisor can be installed on certain configurations of "Bare Metal" Apple Hardware.

Then you can install fully virtualized "Mountain Lion" OSX Server and Workstation software.

And you can also load up the combination of Apple Servers and every other server on the VMware OS virtual machine compatibility list, on the same or similar scale as the VMware posted consolidation ratios for physical to virtual conversions, as stated in their engineering white papers.

Just to make something very clear

We discovered quite by accident is that VMare ESXi installed "bare metal" on Apple Hardware additionally supports operation of fully virtualized MS Windows Servers from version 2000 and up, Novell Netware + SUSE Linux, and essentailly the list of supported OS software on the VMware site.

So on our very first installation (Proof of Concept) we had four host machines consistently runnng 60 - 75, with "bursting" into the high 80's- low 90's, of fully loaded fully virtualized production test servers, including four fully configured Windows Active Directory Servers built on WIndows Server 2012 along with 4 WIndows Multi-Point (terminal servers), multiple OSX servers and workstations,along with a raft of Novell Netware, Novell SUSE, and just about every other software item on the VMware OS Compatility list.

Generally not for graphics intensive personal workstation use, though we are now testing running VMware VDI on Apple Hardware.

A few caveats.

This is a NOT FUSION installation on a single MAC.

ESXi is NOT Fusion. ESXi is the same "bare metal" as in installed first, virtualization software used in enterprise scale data centers..

We are a speciality systems engineering / integration firm dating back to 1994 and our client paid us a significant sum for the engineering and intergration work of multiple engineers.

Such an instalaltion is not yet a "pop in the CD-ROM and go take a break while it all installs."

We are not yet an Apple Business Partner ( we will submit our applciation next week) but we are a VMware Partner going back to the "dawn" of VMware in early 2003.

Scale.......

We are not talking about doing a single MacBook Pro or a Mac Mini or a Mac Pro.

We did the Apple Hardware in a series of data center configurations in blocks of multiples of 24 machines in each "pod."

We did get all the functionality of key VMware technolgies to run on certain combinations and configurations of Apple hardware including Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS), vMotion, and High Availability (HA), the Cisco 1000v virtualized switch and of course vCenter and related orchestration technologies up though vCloud Director, and the VSD technology to aggregate the extra drives on multiple hosts into one storage space.

Though in production, the Apple hardware was connected to a traditional data center storage area network.

We generally do not post on any consumer sites, but one of our techs has been following this thread and others like it, and convinced us that it was important to clear the air.

To put it simply, if you are an enterprise scale client,and it is important for your need to integrate the Apple Operating System in the form of Mountain Lion within your existing production centered data center scale VMware virtualization / cloud infrastructure, it can be done.

But be prepared to reach for your checkbook.

Mac mini

Posted on Mar 7, 2013 10:15 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 14, 2017 1:59 AM in response to MrHoffman

Hi,

I looked at the Virtually Ghetto website, but unfortunately the topics there is more general in nature and not the step by step config I am looking for. Would you happen to point me to another site?

Cheers,

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Answer 2

Sep 14, 2017 9:32 PM in response to bluephoenix71

Given this thread is five years old, some of this thread is probably a little dated, and given this is posted in the Xserve hardware forum it's not going to get the biggest audience — and if the following information and links don't address your question— i'd suggest posting a new thread asking for assistance in configuring VMware ESXi or VMware Fusion or whatever other VMware or other particular virtualization package you're using, and the versions of the tools and the guests, and the particular hardware involved... If it's one of the VMware packages you're virtualizing with and as was discussed earlier, maybe better posting your request for assistance over in the VMware forums, too?

From a quick look at the VMware site, it looks like you'll need ESXi 6.0, ESXi 6.0 Update 1 or ESXi 6.0 Update 2 (or later, as / if / when available?) for use with macOS Sierra 10.12, and you'll need to be running the VMware or other virtualization package on Apple hardware. VMware Fusion and Workstation can also work, too.

Given it's become an officially-supported configuration in combination with Apple hardware and specific macOS versions, VMware now has some docs posted on this topic, and maybe the VMware forum discussions can help?

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Answer 3

Sep 15, 2017 2:06 AM in response to MrHoffman

Hi,

I am trying to install ESXi using a bootable thumb drive either by unetbootin or just doing the manual config on the thumb drive. Then I plan to use another thumb drive to use as my system drive. I can then just store the vmware images on my SSD drive. I was able to do that but it seems that my hardware is not supported since after seeing the files being extracted, instead of seeing the yellow and black desktop for ESXi, all I see is a black screen.

So I was thinking that maybe some other guy has already tried installing ESXi on a macbook pro retina laptop and using a few tweaks in the process.

Thanks,

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Answer 4

Sep 15, 2017 12:25 PM in response to bluephoenix71

I've not tried booting a USB flash drive with VMware ESXi. Disks only. If those links don't get you booted, maybe check directly with the VMware folks, as what's published in the VMware docs and on the VMware web site should work. Also expect to be asked for some details, such as the version and patch level of ESXi, the specific MacBook Pro Retina model you're booting, and the make and model and capacity of the USB device.

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Answer 5

Sep 18, 2017 2:13 AM in response to MrHoffman

Hi,

Yes tried that link and other links as well, I tried doing the manual approach and the automatic approach (Unetbootin and rufus). I'll try to ask them if they can give some tips on how to make esxi work on a macbook pro retina laptop.

Cheers,

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Answer 6

Jul 10, 2015 8:26 AM in response to arthurcloudarchitect

We have implemented ESXi 5.5 on a cluster of MacPro servers and everything is function well with all vSphere feature like HA, DRS and VMotion.

We have a question about EULA, Is there a limit on how instants of Mac OS can you run on a MacPro ?

Apple rep pointed us to this EULA

“to install, use and run up to two (2) additional copies or instances of the Apple Software within virtual operating system environments on each Mac Computer you own or control that is already running the Apple Software.”

Is this correct ?

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Answer 7

Apr 7, 2016 5:30 AM in response to arthurcloudarchitect

Hi,

So this POC you have implemented can only be done on an Apple desktop/workstation bare metal config? Can this also apply on a MacBook Pro Retina Laptop with 16 GB of RAM and an i7 processor?

Cheers,

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Answer 8

Apr 12, 2016 12:17 PM in response to bluephoenix71

The best resource around for these sorts of VMware virtualization questions related to Apple software and hardware is the Virtually Ghetto web site — there's more than a little ESXi information related to Mac computers and OS X posted there. You'll find a list of which MacBook Pro laptops that are likely to work, for instance.

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